1 Corinthians 15:51-59

The Mystery Revealed

Funeral Sermon for Brenden Pendleton

April 28, 2016

Family and friends of Brenden. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

We are here today in shock over the sudden death of Brenden. No one could have expected to be here today for this reason. It was unexpected, tragic, that at 35 years old, he would be dead. We are left with questions which we cannot answer. Questions of why and what for and what now. And we are left with a mystery as to the answer. 

Now, I like a good mystery. I didn’t know Brenden, but I would guess that he was one of those guys who felt the same way. His love for adventure is a love for mystery. What is out there, what new experiences, joys, hardships. That pioneer attitude, always ready to explore uncharted territories and expand horizons for everyone.

There is mystery here. The mystery of why this happened, of what could have been. You all may be plagued for a long time with such questions. I cannot help but think of what the King Solomon in the Old Testament felt and wrote in Ecclesiastes 4:1-3, “Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that done under the sun.”

At times like these it is easy to feel this way. Pessimistic, depressed, angry, worried. What’s the point of this death? What’s the point of life if it can just be snatched away so quickly, so unexpectedly, so easily?

And there’s another mystery we’re faced with it, but this one also has an answer by God. St Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

You see, we may never know the answer to “why” this happened.  But we do have the answer to a more important question, that is, what is God going to do about it?  And the answer to that lies with Jesus, who was crucified, died and was buried. And He was raised from the dead, victorious over the grave.

Because Jesus lives, that is our hope and our comfort, and even dare I say, our joy in the midst of our tears today. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

No matter what we say, no matter how many hugs or memories shared, nothing can make up for a death. Nothing you do can bring Brenden back into your lives. He won’t get to be the father to his children that he most surely wanted to be. He won’t get use that charm of his to help others in times of need, encouraging them. And you, his family and friends, will miss him.  There is no good, no comfort, no peace, with death, but there is all of those things and more in that death, Brenden’s death has been defeated. Death has been swallowed up in victory, the victory of the cross of Jesus. That is the only lasting source of comfort and hope in the midst of things we cannot understand.

Jesus says that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Without Jesus, this life and the answers to real and practical questions of why, what does this all mean, how can I go on, remain an undiscoverable mystery to us. Sure, we can guess, and stumble along, but when push comes to shove, where do we really stand, and where do we fall? You don’t have to stumble around in dark. You don’t have to treat life as a big mystery. Because God has given an answer to the world’s pain, to your pain, to your sadness, to your tears.

The answer to that is Jesus Christ, who was crucified, is raised from the dead. When fear and doubt and worry attack us, what is God’s answer to such problems? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.” When there’s terror of our guilt and shame because of sin, how is our fear chased away? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.” When we question whether our faith is real, or good enough, what’s the answer? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.”  When you have uncertainty about obstacles in the future that seem too large for us roll away ourselves? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.”  Fear of not being in control or not understanding what is going on around us? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.”  Death and a cold grave approach quickly and without mercy? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.”

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We started off our Service today by singing the song, “To God be the glory.” There’s a lot of talk about glory in our Gospel reading. Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him at once.” There are a lot of glorious things about God. His creative acts at the beginning of time when he hung the stars in the sky, carved out the oceans, and breathed life into man. The Bible tells us that He is so glorious, so perfect, that He had to shield Moses’ eyes from even looking at Him. The glory of God shone in Jesus upon the mount of Transfiguration. But now, our Lord Jesus Christ on the night in which He was betrayed, is about to do a new thing.

And just in case the disciples didn’t get what He was saying He made himself clear, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” In other words, Jesus was going to the cross. Jesus was going to die. And out of all the things He could have chosen – His presence at creation, His birth with angels singing, the voice of His Father at His Baptism and His transfiguration – He chooses His death on a cross to be glorified.  Death on the cross to display His love.

And then Jesus gives them a new command, the Maundy of the Thursday, “…love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).  Love is an attribute of God, and because of this, it is also a distinguishing mark of believers in Christ because it is God’s love that works to us and through us to others.  It is mark of believers because it is God’s love, not of ourselves. 

We love because Christ has first loved us.  We know this, and still we struggle with what this looks like and how it feels. The world has a very mixed up idea on what love is and what love looks like and it confuses us too. For goodness sake, people don’t even know which bathroom to go into anymore. People don’t know how to work through problems in a marriage, how to repent to one another, how to forgive.  Evil is called good and good is called evil.  And frankly, we shouldn’t be surprised by this.  The world operates on a very different definition of love, one that is divorced from God.  If you’re separated from the source and author of love, then how can you ever know what love is, much less know how.

Love is not the same thing as a feeling, nor acceptance nor tolerance.  Love is personified in Jesus.  Love doesn’t always feel good.  It hurts when we’re told we are wrong and sinful and in need of a Savior. It hurts our pride, it hurts our feelings, it hurts our sensibilities of wanting to be the decider of our own lives. The love that Christ gives to His disciples, and that He commands His disciples to share is the love of God.  It is a love that speaks God’s condemning Law and the sweetness of the Gospel.

We all know the golden rule, to love your neighbor as yourself.  But many times we forget that the greatest commandment isn’t our love for our neighbor, but to love the Lord your God with all your heart and strength and mind.  There is no true love, no real love, no lasting love, if it is divorced from the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Love cannot exist unless faith precedes it, and it is by faith that we receive remission of sins and learn to recognize God’s mercy… Thus love is kindled and the will subjects itself to God” (Chemnitz, Loci Theologici II, 1194).

The world will notice this kind of love. What we do, the way we love, or the way that we don’t love bears witness to the source of our love in Christ. Christians bring dishonor to one another and to our Lord when we deal in a loveless manner.  And we give honor and glory to Christ when we put aside our hatred and deal in love. But the world will not always appreciate nor agree. The world knew that Jesus’ love for sinners, that His forgiveness and mercy, and His condemning word toward those who did not believe, was something different. And they nailed Him to the cross because of it. And there His glory and His love was made manifest.

This is what has sometimes been called the “Scandal of particularity.” Christians go into the world with the scandalous message of the glory of the cross, the love of God in Christ Jesus through His suffering and death, the salvation of all creation through the forgiveness of sins. Only Jesus, true God and true man, can lead people to the love of God the Father. Outside of faith in Christ, no one would have God’s grace, forgiveness, and love.

Now, today as we honor the works of love from the hands of many people within our congregation and many people who are not in these Quilts. We sang earlier, “Blest be the tie that binds.”  These quilts are bound together, kept together by the ties. Without them, the whole thing would just get all twisted up inside and eventually fall apart. As these quilts are bound together with the ties done out of love for others, so we are tied to God and one another out of the love of Christ.

These quilts are an act of love meant to provide comfort and warmth.  But more importantly, they point to Jesus.  I’m sure that many of you involved get asked the question on occasion, “Why do you do it?” Why do you spend so much time and energy, so much worry and fret, so much love, on doing this?  And the answers, I’m sure, vary. To provide for those in need. To share some time and talents that you have with others. For the fellowship and friendship with the others who are involved.  And all these and more are true. But ultimately it comes down to this: Because of Jesus.

Our love does not save us. It does not earn us favor with God. It does not make us more lovable.  Christ does all these things.  As much love as we might have, it is never perfect and never enough.  Love is perfected only in Christ, for it is He who works through you to share His love to the world.  The point of our love is not that people would notice us. The point of our love is that people might see Christ, that they might the glory of God in His Son. 

Today is often called Good Shepherd Sunday because our Gospel reading for this morning comes right on the heels of Jesus calling Himself the Good Shepherd to describe His close relationship with His followers.  Now Jesus comes to the Feast of Dedication, which is normally called Hanukkah.  It is a celebration of the rededication of the Temple about 200 years before Jesus, after an evil ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanies set up a statue of Zeus and sacrificed a pig to him on the altar in the temple in Jerusalem.  This was a joyous festival celebrating victory over evil and the suffering that came along with it, and the rededication of the temple for use in worshipping the true God, a type of independence day celebration. This feast took place in winter, perhaps descriptive of the chilly reception Christ was receiving at the hands of the unbelieving Jewish leadership, as well as their dead faith in not recognizing him as the Messiah.

It’s interesting then that during this festival Psalm 30 would be read before the people.  This psalm was likely written by King David to dedicate a piece of land in which he bought and built and altar and offered a sacrifice to God in repentance of him relying on his power over God’s strength. “I will extol you, O Lord for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol (from the grave); you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.”

Think of the Godly wisdom and timing for Jesus to choose this place and celebration to reveal that once more that He is God! At this very festival Israel was celebrating their deliverance from an oppressive king and the pagan practices he tried to force upon the people of God. While Jesus was walking in the Temple during Hanukkah, the Jews demanded that Jesus tell them whether He was the Christ.  Is Jesus the Christ, the One who would ultimately deliver God’s people from all oppression and suffering and evil? He answers very clearly – He has already told them He was, He has already showed them He was, and so now once more He declares in no uncertain terms, equal with God "I and my Father are one!”

The great hope and expectation of the rabbis who taught before Christ was that the Messiah would unite all the Jews, all the Gentiles of the world, into one flock. This is partly what they feared about Jesus. They weren’t so afraid that He was a fraud. They were afraid that He was the real deal, that He was the Messiah, and they didn’t want that. They didn’t want the Gentiles or the end of the temple.  They were like sheep who didn’t want a shepherd.

While Christians today don’t celebrate Hanukkah, we do get together each Sunday to celebrate the deliverance and victory over evil and the suffering that comes along with it.  We come together on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, for this is the day in which Jesus was raised from the dead.  The words of King David in Psalm 30 foreshadow the resurrection of Jesus. We worship on Sunday, each Sunday celebrating a mini-Easter, and we receive the blessings of Jesus’ victory over sin and death and the devil by hearing His Word and receiving His Sacraments.  And this, this is the character of sheep.

Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me.” That’s not a bad definition of a Christian, “Sheep who know the voice of the Good Shepherd.” By hearing the voice of the Shepherd, by heeding when He calls to us.  By His blood, He reconciles sinners to the Father and makes one flock. There’s a great assurance here. We who have been called and gathered into His flock can rest secure that we belong to Jesus Christ and will never perish. All of Jesus works affirm this truth – Christ is our deliverer from sin and death. And no one can snatch us out of His hand.

Though many will try. Jesus warns us of the wolves, and St. Paul warns us to be alert, to pay attention for this reason. No matter how much we’d like to pretend otherwise, we are more like defenseless sheep than we like to admit. Sheep still think that they can go out and make it on their own. And so sheep still wander out of the pasture gate and get lost. Sheep still eat and drink to excess that which is not best for them. Sheep still listen to every half-baked lie and accept it as true and valid. Sheep still need a shepherd to come and save them when they get into trouble because whether we are willing to admit it or not, we are more likely to welcome the wolves in with open arms, as opposed to keeping them far from us. 

Wolves always find a way to trick sheep. Wolves always find a disguise that fools sheep every single time, tempting the sheep to look for grass looks greener but is really just filled with poison.  Wolves always have the lie that you have never heard before and that is too good to not be true. Wolves always know how to make things look better than they really are. And sheep always let their guard down, always turn a blind eye, always have itching ears, always are willing to give wolves just one more chance.

Sheep need a shepherd.  But not just any shepherd will do. Sheep need a shepherd who is good, not only good at his job, not only morally good, but one who is completely and perfectly faithful. Chris is our Good Shepherd because He gives His life for the flock. He overcomes the wolves by filling the wolf’s mouth with His own body and thus saves the sheep from being lost. This Good Shepherd becomes the Lamb who was slain. So that we might be clothed in white, wool like robe of Christ’s righteousness.  White washed in the blood of the Lamb, which leaves no stains but rather takes them all away. This is our Easter hope, this is our future! Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, the Lamb who is our Shepherd.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!

When you have sinned against someone you can pretend it never happened, but, until you've been reconciled with that person, until the wrong has been addressed, a tension, or, an uneasiness remains in the relationship.  We all know it, and have probably felt that way more than once in your lifetime.  Your friendship, or, your love, if it is that deep of a relationship, is strained as you try to ignore the obvious.  No doubt, many a marriage has suffered, to the point of destruction, from neither spouse being able to address the issues that are glaringly obvious to anyone looking on from the outside.

Simon Peter had sinned against Jesus.  For a Christian, he had done the unimaginable.  Jesus said, “If you confess Me before men I will confess you before My Father in heaven.  If you deny Me before men I will deny you before My Father in heaven.”  Peter did the latter.  He did more than tuck tale and run. Three times he denied his Lord, “I do not know Him.”

We’d all like to think that we would never do such a thing, but when we’re honest with ourselves, we aren’t as certain as we put on. The temptations is right there. It’s easy to think that we’d stand firm in the midst of persecution, that with a gun to our head we would never deny Christ.  Most of us who have been confirmed remember even making promises to that effect, that we would suffer all, even death, rather than deny Jesus. But what about those more day to day temptations?  Those times when we choose to stay at home when family is around, or don’t pray over meals like usual so you don’t offend them by being “too” Christian.  Or those times when school work takes precedence over confirmation because church can be brushed off easily.  Or backing down from standing up for Christ because the job or school or culture says faith isn’t welcome in public.

It was probably fear that made Peter do it.  That same fear is what drives our sin.  Fear of not being liked or accepted by the world and having a hard time in life because of it. Who wouldn’t be afraid after seeing the mob crying out to crucify Jesus?  Peter didn't think it would be a good thing to say that he knew Him, much less that he followed Him and had confessed at one time that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.  Or, maybe doubts arose in his mind as to whether or not Jesus was really the Christ.  Dying on the cross isn’t what winners do.  It’s a loser’s death.  Peter probably wasn't ready to die for someone who may not be the Christ.

All of his reasons aside, whatever they might have been, Peter was carrying a terrible load of guilt around his neck.  He had promised Jesus earlier, "even if all of the other disciples should leave you, I will never leave you."  And yet, when push came to shove, he did exactly that.  Was he even any better than Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus into the hands of sinful men?  Both betrayed Jesus deeply.  Yet there is a major difference between these two.  Judas, after committing his sin, fell into despair and the belief that Jesus was not enough to cleanse him from his sin.  Peter, after committing his sin, believed that Christ’s death upon the cross forgave his sin and cleansed him from all unrighteousness. It is a characteristic of true faith that it clings to the promises of the Gospel with a sound mind and a contrite heart, and in Christ seeks the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus said, "Peter do you love Me?" It's one of those questions that God asks, but He already knows the answer. “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Peter must have wondered about his commitment to Jesus.  "Peter, do you love Me," Jesus gave Peter an opportunity to reflect on the question and then to confess his love for Him.  And a third time, “Peter, do you love Me?” Yes, Jesus knows, but more importantly Peter is to know that Jesus loves him.

Jesus met Peter's sin head on because it was weighing him down.  The setting is a bit different, but the circumstances are the same.  We have all sinned against God in thought, word and deed, by what we have done and by we have left undone.  We have not loved God with our whole heart and we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves.  So does God just abandon us to the guilt and shame?  Does He leave us to wallow in our misery until we “really, really” feel bad about our sin? 

No, the Son of God restores us to Himself by His blood.  Not just once.  Not just twice or three times. But whenever a sinner turns to Christ in faith, by the power of His resurrection, he is brought back into a right relationship with God, and with one another. Left to our own feelings, to our devices, to our denial of Christ, we would be no different than Judas.  But for your sake, for your salvation, Christ comes and meets you here in His Word and Sacraments to lead you to repent of your doubts and fears and sins and to faith in the One who died for those sins.

For Peter, his love for Jesus, and his appreciation for God's forgiveness would be expressed in his caring for Jesus' flock.  The question for you this morning is how is your love for Jesus and your appreciation for His having lifted that awful burden from your shoulders expressed?  More than that, how does God want you to express your love and appreciation for Him?  Well, since Peter was to tend Jesus' sheep and feed His lambs, and since it is the charge of God’s under-shepherds, His pastors, to do the same, it stands to reason that there are sheep and lambs who are expected to eat what the Good Shepherd provides!  Amazingly, your love for Jesus is most properly expressed, not in what you do or in what you give, but in what you receive from the hand of the Lord. 

And that’s our true purpose for being here today: to receive what God wants to give you, namely His forgiveness and grace.  Though you have sinned against Christ and would just as soon hide it from everyone else, from yourself, and even from God.  The setting is different from Peter's encounter with Jesus but the outcome is the same, a relationship restored by the grace and mercy of God!  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed, alleluia! As we were left with a cliffhanger in the Easter story last week, we hear what happens later that very same Sunday.   By this time, the disciples had already heard the news about Jesus’ resurrection, but they still didn’t fully understand all the signs and all the things that Jesus said about Himself.  It seemed too good to be true that Jesus was alive. And they weren’t really sure what it all meant for them.  Was this going to change things? Or better yet, how was this going to change things? They were afraid they might be hurt or killed just like Jesus was, and so they were hiding. 

Imagine the surprise of being in a locked room with several other people talking about a life and death situation when all of a sudden somebody else just pops into the room.  That probably would have surprised me.  And no doubt the disciples probably would have been a little nervous at seeing Jesus.  Sure, they were happy that He was alive, but do you remember how many of them stood by Jesus when He was being crucified?  None.  The practically abandoned Him when He was arrested.  But Jesus said “Peace be with you,” he calmed their fears and He showed them His hands and His feet so they would believe it was truly Him, and they were overjoyed.

But there’s always that one skeptic in every crowd, isn’t there.  Someone who believes that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.  Thomas wasn’t there with the others that night and he didn’t believe them that Jesus was alive.  This Bible passage is where we get the “doubting Thomas” phrase. But really, does Thomas sound like he’s doubting? In verse 25 Thomas clearly says that unless could put his hands in the holes in Jesus’ body that he will never believe it.  He basically says “I’ll have to see it to believe it.”  It sounded too good to be true, so it probably wasn’t.  Does this sound like a doubter?  Not at all!  Then 8 days later, this time when Thomas was around, Jesus appears into a locked room again and says, “Do not disbelieve and believe.”  So Jesus wasn’t telling him to stop doubting.  Doubt was not the issue here.  Jesus was telling him to stop “unbelieving!”  Stop being unfaithful.  Again, the issue here is not doubt, it is unbelief.  There is a big difference between the two.  You can still believe and have your doubts.  But Thomas didn’t have doubts, he refused to believe in the resurrection.

It took Jesus Himself coming to him to lead Thomas to believe what seemed to be too good to be true.  In the same way it takes God Himself coming to people to take away their unbelief.  How many people in the world today have heard about our faith, have heard that Jesus was risen from the dead and yet still do not believe because they can’t see it with their own 2 eyes for themselves.  They can see Jerusalem and see the mount where Jesus died.  There’s no doubting most of the history in the Bible by anyone.  The late E. Stanley Jones told the following story.  "A Christian preacher was preaching in the bazaars in India, and a Mohammedan said, "Padre Sahib, we have proof in our religion that you haven't got in yours.  We can go to Mecca and find the tomb of Mohammed, but when you go to Palestine you can't be sure that you've got the tomb of Jesus."  Yes, said the Christian preacher, "you're right.  We have no tomb in Christianity because we have no corpse."  (For All the Saints, III, 1049).  And it’s all seems too good to be true, that someone else has died for me and now lives so that I can live forever.

So Jesus Himself still comes to people so that their doubts, but even more, their unbelief can be taken away.  Too often, people look around everywhere to try to find God, to try to hear His voice speaking telling you what you should do, where you should go, how you should act.  No doubt, God really is everywhere.  But, rather than looking everywhere for God, it’s really much easier.  John 20:31 “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life eternal in His name.”  So the whole world may know Him and can respond with those words of Thomas’, “My Lord and my God!”

Look where He promises to be: here in God’s Word and in the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.  We may not see Jesus standing in front of us just like Thomas did.  In the Sacrament of Baptism, He comes down from heaven and is present among those gathered, giving eternal life through the Water and the Word.  In the Sacrament of Communion, He comes again in His body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins.  Through the Word of Christ, He speaks faith into unbelieving hearts and casts away our doubts.

He takes your doubts and your fears and your shame and your bitterness and He makes them His own. And He takes His faith and His hope and His life and His joy and His glory and He makes them your own. He doesn’t remove your outward troubles; He gives you something better: inward peace.

Even though we have this story that seems almost too good to be believe, it is true.  Jesus really did rise from the dead, and we share in that Easter.  As I once heard it, “Easter is God shouting loud and clear that Jesus is risen and that He is the savior of all.”  Because of Easter, there is no doubt, no unbelief about one thing for certain.  Jesus lives!  And He always keeps His promises, just as He did on Easter.  So caste away any doubts, any fears, and be led to belief by the Spirit of God.  And because Jesus rose from the dead, so will you.  Because Jesus is alive, you have new life. Because He comes in Word and Sacrament, you are kept in the one truth faith. Because Jesus rose from the dead, Easter is your Easter.  Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed.  Halleluiah.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the resurrection, our view of Jesus is complete, the full picture of the Gospel comes into focus.  The resurrection does not alleviate the scandal of the cross, but it assures the Church that the cross was part of God’s plan from the very start. The resurrection fortifies us against the temptation to downplay the cross and thereby compromise the faith. This is what Christianity is all about. This is what our lives are all about. Christ who was crucified is risen! We have the words of our Lord, the Holy Scripture, the hearing of the Word points us to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Especially in the Gospel according to Luke, we hear how Jesus’ disciples just didn’t get it. He had told them over and over again of his death and resurrection, pointed them back to the promises of God in the Old Testament, and it just didn’t sink in. Jesus had been clear on several occasions concerning what was going to happen to Him by His death, and His resurrection.  What a contrast of those women who found the open and empty tomb and then the disciples who heard their confession.  To them, it seemed like an idle tale, wishful thinking at best. It seemed too good to be true, this Good News of Jesus’ resurrection.  We hear these words and sometimes wonder how dense they were.  How could they not have understood, how could they not have gotten it?  But are we really that different.

We too struggle with our faith, with our trust in God, and our lack of understanding. We read the Scriptures, yet we do not always see. We believe that through faith in Christ alone, our sins are forgiven.  Yet how often we fail to live as though this were true.  It seemed too easy to be saved by faith alone and not by your works.  We live our lives and wonder how and where God is active in the midst of our own sadness and struggles.  We worry and we fret about tomorrow, about the future of our country and of our children and grandchildren.  All too often find ourselves stumbling through life making things up as we skirt by. And we continue in our sins, knowing full well what is right and wrong, but caring more for our temporary comfort or pleasure than for the sacrifice of Christ for us.  And when we hear this Good News again, when we hear the Gospel, we know we should be joyful and happy and yet we aren’t. 

There is no moving beyond the Gospel. There is no more to fully see, to understand, to believe, than Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of your sins, who was raised three days later.  All of the Old Testament leads up to Him. All the New Testament points to Him.  The Word of God proclaims this Christ, delivers this Christ, to you for your salvation. It is the center of our preaching, our teaching, and our worship. 

We are called today to repent, for we have all been careless and lazy when it comes to Christ and His Word.  The words of the angels are a message for us here today as well, “Remember how He told you.”  We were not there to see the empty tomb. We were not there to see the nail holes in our Savior’s hand, in His feet, His spear pierced side.  But we still have His Word, and it is by means of His Word that He creates and sustains faith in Him.  The Word of God penetrates our hearts and minds and produces faith in Christ.  It is on account of His resurrection that our minds and eyes are opened to God’s Word. The disciples and the people of Israel could not understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of Scripture until after the resurrection. Only in light of the resurrection of Christ from the dead was the fullness of faith brought to light. 

Last week, one of our church family members died.  Bill Morgan. Many of you knew him, he had been part of Zion for a long, long time.  Some of you saw him in his last days or weeks and saw how he was fading.  The day before he died, I sat by his bedside along with his wife.  I don’t think she noticed at the time, but while we prayed together the Commendation of the Dying, Bill’s lips would move along with the words of the Confession, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. Words he had said for most of his seventy-nine years of life, he remembered, and by faith, he believed, because of Jesus’ resurrection.

Now, some might say that this was a bad time to die, in days before Good Friday and in the light of Easter. But is there really a better time?  For it is during this time of the year that we remember the clearest the lengths to which our Lord Jesus went to save us by His death upon the cross.  And it is today that we remember the Word of the Lord, that Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  This great enemy of death, while it may strike us all, has lost bite.

We preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified because there is salvation in no other.  We teach Him who is the way, the truth, and the life -- the way that led through suffering, cross, and death... the truth of Him who exchanged His righteousness for our sin and bore it all up obedient to the cross... the life that Christ now lives, victorious over sin and death. The resurrection is our future, our hope, our certainty and security. Trouble will come. Fear will seize us. Worry will test us. But the risen Christ is always for us.  Jesus doesn’t leave us at the cross. And He doesn’t leave us at an empty tomb.  Tombs are for dead people, and He is not there, and neither shall we be upon the Day of Resurrection. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia! 

This morning we heard the story of salvation from creation to the resurrection.  We see God’s hand working through the life of His people to guide and protect, discipline and forgive.  All for the sake of His people, His creation.  All of God’s work, all of His promises, directs us to today – Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia.

God preserves His people throughout history, from sin, death and the devil.  We heard all these readings not just as reminder of what God has done in the past, but also to point us to our future – the day of resurrection of the dead. 

“Christ calls all sinners to Himself and promises them rest. He is eager that all people should come to Him and allow themselves to be helped. He offers them Himself in His Word and wants them to hear it and not to plug their ears or despise the Word. Furthermore, He promises the power and working of the Holy Spirit and divine assistance for perseverance and eternal salvation ‹so that we may remain steadfast in the faith and gain eternal salvation.”^[1]

The perseverance of the saints is a work of God based upon the death and resurrection of Jesus.  St Paul does not say, “When God has begun the work, you can complete it” but “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil 1:6

God has begun our life in Him through water and the Word.  He preserves His saints throughout this life and the next by His means of grace, Word, Water, the Body and Blood of Christ.  When fear and doubt and worry attack us as they did the women gone to see Jesus, what is God’s answer to such problems? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.” When terror of our guilt and shame because of sin, how is our fear chased away? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.” When we question whether our faith is real, or good enough, what’s the answer? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.”  Uncertainty about obstacles in the future that seem too large for us roll away ourselves? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.”  Fear of not being in control or not understanding what is going on around us? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.”  Death and a cold grave approach quickly and without mercy? “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen.”

May we never tire of hearing God’s Word nor His work through His Word.  In this Word He reminds us whose we are, that we may respond with the joy and love to God and to one another. God will preserve His saints in the true faith to life everlasting by virtue of the cross and the empty grave.